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Almond Shortbread Cookies

People ask me all the time, “Jen, is it weird having a 15 year old, when you yourself are only 25?”

Well, yes it is, now that you mention it.

You know what else is weird? How many times I’ve turned 25. I mean my friends keep getting older every year, and I just keep staying 25. *ahem*

At my most recent 25th birthday (which was just a few weeks ago), my name-sharing BFF Jen gave me these adorable as heck cupcake-shaped cookie cutters. I mean, seriously… how cute are these?!

She also gave me an actual cupcake. From One Sweet Slice. {a.k.a. Heaven} If you haven’t heard of them, One Sweet Slice is a local cupcake bakery that not too long ago won an episode of Cupcake Wars. They claim to have award-winning cupcakes, brownies, and other stuff.

They claim correctly. It’s lucky I don’t live closer to this place. Seriously.

The only problem I have now is deciding what kind of cookie dough to turn into cupcake-shaped cookies. Which is not a real problem at all.

This resulted in the single ugliest cookie I have ever seen in my life. EPIC Failure.

I spent a few days licking my wounds about it, too, before I decided to make something that will really keep it’s shape, so I can see the cute cupcake… Shortbread Cookies.

This resulted in the second ugliest cookie I have ever seen in my life. ANOTHER epic failure.

I really wish I could describe with words what I suspect the look on my face is describing right now. What’s the word? Frustration? Anger? Barely contained psychotic rage? Let’s just say I was NOT. HAPPY.

But you know what makes me completely happy and relaxed when I’m homicidal not happy? The smell of almond extract. It’s quite literally the most amazing smell ever. I mean, you can talk about your fresh cut grass, or pine forest, or ocean breeze, or even apple pie, but none of them can even compete with almond extract. *deep inhale*

I really had to get this one right.

The thing about shortbread is, it gets all it’s flavor from butter. Which means there’s a mega-ton of butter in this recipe. And the thing about that is you need a lot of something that will have a thickening effect on the dough, something like flour. Except, flour is not enough. You also need a second thickening agent.

Pioneer Woman recommends cornstarch. Joy of Baking recommends powdered sugar. I just couldn’t pick between the two of them, so I split the difference and used both.

Also, Joy has a whole video about this, where she says to chill the dough for several hours, and then let it soften again before rolling. And let’s just say some people are too lazy for that. Or too impatient. Or both. These are the people who chill for only 30 minutes, and then roll immediately, cut, and put the cut cookies back in the fridge for 10 minutes before baking.

Either way is fine with me.

And if you’re wondering what to send me for my birthday, send almond extract.

Cream butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add cornstarch, extract, and salt and mix well. Add almonds and mix. Add flour and mix until everything is well combined.

Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap. Either chill 30 minutes, or chill several hours, then let soften for about 10 minutes.

Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to ¼-inch thickness. Cut out shapes, place on baking sheet, and chill for 10 minutes.

Bake 14-18 minutes at 325 degrees, until edges are golden. Allow to cool before dipping in chocolate.

Finely chop chocolate bar, place about half to ⅔ of the chocolate in a microwave safe dish, and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until completely melted. Add remaining chocolate to the melted chocolate, a little at a time, stirring to melt.

Dip cookies in chocolate, and lay on wax paper to dry. Sprinkled with sliced almonds. Chill for about 10 minutes.

I read the first sentence and stopped, thinking wth, how is that possible? Then saw the rest.. haha, I’m right there with you. Although I say, 25 with 6 years experience.

I love shortbread and these look amazing, love the way that you made then cupcake shaped with a M&M on the top and chcocolate on the bottom. Looks like millionaires shortbread but with a difference! How did it turn out using a combination of the corn starch and powdered sugar?

Thanks Lisa! I did like the powdered sugar / cornstarch combination. I think the cookies have a really great texture, and they’re not too sweet.
And, since they don’t have any eggs, you can eat as much dough as your 25 year old body can handle! (Not that I ate half the dough before they baked or anything. *ahem*)